2of3Members of the Texas A&M University San Antonio Police Department Susan Gonzales, left, and Jeff Grossman, right, prepare for shooting practice at the Bexar County Firing Range, Friday, August 30, 2013.Photo: San Antonio Express-News

3of3Patricio Linares, Range Master at the Bexar County Firing Range, sets his computer that can control the targets during a shooting exercize, on Friday, August 30, 2013.Photo: San Antonio Express-News

To the untrained eye, the Bexar County Firing Range doesn't look like much: a concrete slab with a strange-looking roof, a set of bleachers and a tiny office.

To law enforcement officers and gun aficionados, the $6.2 million South Side range offers a wealth of possibilities. Inside the office, Range Master Patricio Linares controls running and turning targets at each of the 40 bays with a touch of a button on his laptop. The slab was built to accommodate vehicles, and the range, which extends up to 50 yards and can be used for handguns and shotguns, is solely used by law enforcement.

“When I started here, the Sheriff's Office was the only one using it, and they weren't using it to its full potential,” said Linares, who has more than 25 years of firearms instruction experience, including military, and worked as a licensed peace officer for several years. “But now, it's just fantastic. I get calls almost every day from different agencies using the range.”

In the works for a decade, the range gives Bexar County deputies, constables, probation officers and arson investigators a place to train and be recertified, as is annually required. Until this year, officers used Camp Bullis and Medina Base, but military exercises took precedent and it was often hard to get training time.

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“It wasn't costing us anything but time — almost an hour — each way,” Sheriff Susan Pamerleau said. “We're just really pleased. Now, we're able to train indoors, with moveable targets, and don't have to schedule around others. We've got a state-of-the-art range that's far better than anything anyone else has.”

Precinct 1 Commissioner Sergio “Chico” Rodriguez said he has squirreled away money for the facility since he was elected in 2005. Officers began using the range this year, and since Linares was hired in June, the range has been booked solid by law enforcement agencies from Bexar County and beyond, who pay the county $10 a day per shooter. According to the proposed budget, the county expects to make about $100,000 in fees at the range in fiscal year 2013-2014.

Clients have included officers from school districts, Texas A&M University-San Antonio, Hill Country Village, Hollywood Park, the Alamo Area Council of Governments, the Texas attorney general's office, the U.S. Homeland Security Department and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“It's just one of several components that will go into a regional law enforcement training facility,” Rodriguez said. “But you've gotta have the firing range. Without it, it's like having a gun without bullets.”

There are 17 agencies inside Bexar County, said Precinct 3 Commissioner Kevin Wolff, “and not all of them have something like this.”

Designed by Steve J. Patmon of the SJPA company, the range is “one of the premiere facilities in the state,” Linares said, and is rated for up to a .50-caliber weapon. Behind the targets, which can be used for shoot-or-don't-shoot scenarios, is a granulated rubber bullet trap, backed by a layer of used rubber tires.

The roof of the range keeps shooters cool and is designed to stop and capture bullets in protective baffles, which are metal panels covered in plywood. Natural light floods into the facility, but it's also equipped with overhead lights that can be turned off for nighttime scenarios.

“The enhanced training potential is there,” said Patmon, who designed two federal shooting ranges before Bexar County's. “It's really important for these guys to get out there and practice, and this provides that opportunity and gives complexity to the scenarios.”

Eva Ruth Moravec is a freelance reporter who writes about officer-involved shootings of unarmed individuals in Texas for a grant-funded series published in several Texas newspapers. She is also currently pursuing her Master’s degree in Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin. Moravec covered the 2015 Texas legislative session for the Associated Press and has freelanced for local, state and national news outlets, including the New York Times and The Washington Post. Previously, Moravec worked for several years as a staff reporter covering public safety and later government for the San Antonio Express-News. Read her complete series at www.pointofimpacttx.org.